The Real Challenges of Latin America

José Miguel Insulza, Secretary General, Organization of American States.

Co-sponsored by the Department of Political Science, the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and Latin American and Caribbean Studies.

José Miguel Insulza took office as OAS Secretary General on May 26 of 2005. A lawyer by profession Mr. Insulza has a master's in political science from the University of Michigan. Mr. Insulza was Political Advisor to the Chilean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Director of the Diplomatic Academy of Chile when Salvador Allende was president. Following the coup that brought General Augusto Pinochet into power, Mr. Insulza went into exile.

After Chileans voted against Pinochet's continued rule in a plebiscite, Insulza returned to his home country and helped to lead a political movement toward democratic elections in 1990. A member of Chile's Socialist Party-part of a moderate coalition of democratic parties-Insulza has held a number of high-level government posts: Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister Secretary General of the Presidency, Minister of the Interior and Vice President of the Republic.